Dean Martin’s daughter Deana Martin says John Legend, Kelly Clarkson’s remake of ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ is ‘strange.’ The fellow singer also discusses her holiday album ‘White Christmas’ and why it continues to be special in her household.
NEW YORK – John Legend and Kelly Clarkson’s rendition of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” has received an icy review from Dean Martin's daughter Deana Martin.
“First of all, I love both of them,” the fellow singer told Fox News. “I think they’re fabulous entertainers and singers. I think John Legend is a great writer and musician… they both have fabulous voices. [However], I really don’t think they should have rewritten the lyrics to this fabulous Frank Loesser song.”
“It was written in 1944 by Frank Loesser and it won the Academy Award for the movie ‘Neptune’s Daughter,’” the 71-year-old continued. “And it was a… flirtatious, cute song. I really don’t think they should have rewritten the lyrics. I think they made it into some strange, weird song. But I do like them both.”
Legend's remake of the holiday classic, which he co-wrote alongside “Insecure” writer and actress Natasha Rothwell, wasn’t supposed to be preachy at all,” he told UK’s Observer this month.
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Recording artist John Legend, left, nd host Kelly Clarkson speak onstage during the 2018 Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 20, 2018, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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The EGOT winner pointed out he rewrote specific lyrics to the song after some deemed the lines to be predatory in today’s #MeToo climate.
In the original tune, which was covered by Dean in 1959, a female sings: “I really can’t stay,” to which a man responds: “But baby, it’s cold outside.” In another part of the song, a woman is heard singing lines like “Say, what’s in this drink?”, “The answer is no” and “I’ve gotta get home.”
With the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements rocking Hollywood, some modern-day listeners have questioned the original’s lyrical content. As a result, Legend and Clarkson, 37, released a less offensive version, replacing many of the original lyrics.
For example, the original track includes the verse, “The neighbors might think (Baby it's bad out there) / Say what's in this drink (No cabs to be had out there) / I wish I knew how (Your eyes are like starlight now) / To break this spell (I'll take your hat, your hair looks swell).”
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Ricardo Montalban smiling at swimsuit wearing Esther Williams in a scene from the film ‘Neptune’s Daughter’, 1949.
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In contrast, Legend and Clarkson’s version swaps out those lyrics in favor of: “What will my friends think? (It's your body and your choice) / If I have one more drink? (It's your body and your choice) / Ooh you really know how (Your eyes are like starlight now) / To cast a spell (One look at you and then I fell).”
Martin said she was sticking by her pledge to continue performing “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” despite the frosty reception the decades-old song has received.
“Listen to the song,” she said. “In the movie, when you have Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban, he is chasing her around. And then a bit later in the movie, they have Betty Garrett, who’s chasing Red Skelton around. So fair is fair. And I think that it actually empowers women, that whole song because she’s saying, ‘No, I really must go.’ And she goes.”
“I think I understand what people were thinking about,” reflected Martin. “I understand the #MeToo movement and everything, but I disagree with them wholeheartedly. I think that it’s a sweet, cute, flirtatious song and people have to date. That’s how you meet people. You go out and you fall in love and then maybe you get married. So I think there’s nothing inappropriate about this song. I think it’s just in their minds.”
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Red Skelton watches Betty Garrett pour a drink in a scene from the film ‘Neptune’s Daughter’, 1949.
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Martin also insisted she knew exactly how her father would have reacted to the controversy.
“Oh, he would have laughed,” she chuckled. “Not that he would’ve been insensitive to their thinking, but I think that for him he would have thought, ‘Why?’ He wouldn’t understand why because he would think there’s nothing wrong with the song. And it just wouldn’t have been a big deal to him, I don’t think. He let things go. He was easy. You want to do something, go do it.”
In 2018, Loesser’s daughter Susan Loesser told NBC News her father had no ill intentions when he wrote the song.
“Bill Cosby ruined it for everybody,” she said at the time, as reported by USA Today. “Way before #MeToo, I would hear from time to time people [calling] it a date rape song. I would get annoyed because it’s a song my father wrote for him and my mother to sing at parties. But ever since Cosby was accused of drugging women, I hear the date rape thing all the time.”
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‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ writer, Frank Loesser, is pictured here.
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Susan added her father would have been “furious” over the decision made by some radio stations that had chosen to stop playing the track.
“I think it would be good if people looked at the song in the context of the time,” explained Susan. “People used to say ‘What’s in this drink?’ as a joke. You know, ‘This drink is going straight to my head so what’s in this drink?’ Back then it didn’t mean, 'You drugged me.'"
The publication shared “Saturday Night Live” previously linked the song to Cosby in a December 2015 episode that aired just days before the fallen comedian was charged with criminal sexual assault.
The sketch depicts Cosby (Kenan Thompson) wearing one of his signature sweaters singing “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” while sitting next to a woman (Tina Fey) on a couch. She then asks “Say, what’s in this drink?”
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Dean Martin with his daughter Deana.
(Courtesy of Deana Martin.)
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“Baby, It’s Cold Outside” became a hot topic in 2018 after several radio stations across the country were reportedly tasked with determining the song’s fate in their regions. Some were even prompted to create a poll to help them determine its future.
As for Martin, she’s eager to move forward and get into the holiday spirit. In 2011, she released a collection of Yuletide favorites titled “White Christmas” which she happily revisits every year.
Dean Martin’s version of "Baby It’s Cold Outside" continues to be a popular track during the holidays every year.
(Photo by GAB Archive/Redferns/Getty)
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“First of all, Christmas is my favorite time of the year,” she explained… And this album is very special because Andy Williams recorded White Christmas with me and it was his last recording. But my dad taught me to dream big and I did.
"I dreamed big and I asked Andy Williams if he would record ‘White Christmas’ with me and he did… For me and the Martin household, Christmas was always a very, very special time of the year.”